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January 24, 2013

Sky Sports has whistled up trials of a miniature RefCam for
rugby union, to give a new angle on the action. It has already broadcast one
trial, with an SD camera, but will test an HD version in a live English
Championship match from Nottingham on Sunday (27 January).

The set up involves “a lot of bespoke kit, because the aim
was always to make it as light as possible, because we had to get the referees
to agree to it,” explained Sky Sport’s Senior Director of Rugby Union, Sam Foskett.

The very first trial of the chest-mounted RefCam wasn’t for
broadcast, and was just an ad hoc game played at Harrow School to see if the
system worked and get feedback from the referee wearing the system. A picture of the director's monitor showing the shot from the RefCam in that game is shown above.

The experiment was a success, but when the standard
definition camera was used as part of a full HD outside broadcast for the RFU
Championship match (the level beneath England’s Premiership) the difference in
picture quality between the images from the small SD camera and the main HD
cameras was noticeable.

For next Sunday’s match, it will use a miniature HD camera
that was previously used for snooker broadcasts, where it was placed in the
pockets of the snooker table.

The camera links system is a pared down version of a
standard communication link Sky would typically use on a bigger broadcast
camera, but with its bulk considerably reduced to “about the size of a wallet
and weighing the same as two iPhones.”

The difficulty is in reducing weight while maintaining
robustness. The broadcast trial revealed that the vest built to contain the
camera and links “was a bit flimsy.” So, they have used pieces of plastic usually
used to reinforce the collars of newly bought shirts to help stabilise the
camera mount.

Otherwise, the broadcast trial was a success. “The referees
were really excited about it, because they want to use it for training
purposes, and from our point of view it proved we could get closer to the
action,” said Foskett (pictured above at Twickenham). Some leading referees, such as Nigel Owens, have
commented that if it is used it could help reduce criticism of the referee as
it will show that from their angle they couldn’t have seen an incident that
viewers feel they should have dealt with.

Foskett thought it worked particularly well for the scrum
and lineout, and when the referee was talking to players. “When the ref is on
the run it can be a bit disconcerting, so we can’t use it live, but if it is of
interest we can use it as a replay.” Perhaps a wider angle lens would help, as
it would not only make the running shots appear less jarring, but would help
when talking to players, where the heads of some of the taller forwards were
out of shot.

Matt Carley (pictured above getting fitted with the RefCam vest), the referee for the Newcastle Falcons v London
Scottish match (the first broadcast trial) commented afterwards: “I forgot it
was on me,” which Foskett feels proves that it won’t affect the referee’s game.

If the HD trial is successful, and the referees and rugby
authorities agree to it, Sky hopes to use it on higher level matches, from the
Premiership and, particularly the Heineken Cup, “but the referee is there to
referee the game, not to create images for us, but hopefully the benefits to viewers
and referees for their own training will mean it can go further.”

Similar miniature systems are starting to be used elsewhere.
Sky is currently transmitting cricket matches from Australia’s Big Bash
tournament that features umpire cameras for the first time, while in America
HBO used a tiny camera sewn into a boxing referee’s bow tie in another
experiment.

“As cameras get lighter and links get lighter, we can get it
to places we never could before, but where it won’t affect the people
involved,” said Foskett. “If you can get a lens one metre from the scrum it
will give you something different from a lens 50m away.”

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